Considering a job switch: Why it pays to work at a startup even if it fails

Noise around 'startupocalypse' may be vastly exaggerated. Despite disclosures of bankruptcy or announcement of mass layoffs, employees across age groups are embracing this chaos as they trade obvious pitfalls to getting valuable experience.Anu Thomas | ET Online | May 02, 2017, 15:07 IST

While the draw of a startup in the pink of health can be magnetic - made stronger by the promise of fuchsia bean bags and foosball tables - the growing number of acquisitions and shut-downs in this space may be signalling the end of a bull run for these companies in India.

Yet, even as the noise around 'startupocalypse' grows louder with each disclosure of bankruptcy or announcement of mass layoffs, employees across age groups are seen embracing this chaos, describing these seemingly obvious pitfalls as just collateral damage in the path to getting valuable experience.

Oyo Rooms founder Ritesh Agarwal's go-to person in Karnataka, Rohin Pinto, has been leading operations in the state since August 2015.

The MDI-graduate has a unique story to tell about his jump from being an old-timer at one of the leading organisations in the Indian telecom industry, to migrating to a different city to head a startup in a completely different field.

"I worked with Airtel in various capacities for six years before being enticed into the startup space," jokes Pinto. "By the time I left the organisation, I was handling sales and marketing for over one-third of Bombay," he adds.

For the 35-year-old, quitting an established company where he was acclimated to a certain structure in exchange for ambiguity at a growing startup was a carefully calculated move, one that synergised his life's philosophy to his professional goals," At the end of my career when I'm ready to hang my boots up, I should have a story to tell," he opines.

Adds Harish Choudhary, AVP, Acquisition, at another real estate startup blooming in the innovation capital of India, Bangalore, "When you are contributing to a sector that is largely unorganized and shows a lot of potential for innovation, you automatically want to become part of that story and everything else takes a backseat," says the 26-year-old employee at NestAway.

Startup culture, what is that?

Unlike seasoned companies that work around well-defined processes, the unconventional set up at a startup may throw off some people who are entrenched in the ways of larger enterprises. But most see a beauty in this mess that gives them the freedom and flexibility to experiment, fail, learn, and evolve.

"The key difference between established companies and those at its nascent stage is in the levels of hierarchy," feels Vamsi Varanasi, who has been working with electric scooter startup Ather Energy for nearly two years. "Most startups have a flat organization where even founders and senior management is approachable," she adds.

Unlike Pinto, the 29-year-old has had prior experience working in the startup industry. "I was working with a startup in Palo Alto, and from there I moved to a corporate company based out of Bangalore," she says. "After my stint with an established firm, I was really keen on going back and working with a startup again," she adds.

Another factor that sets startups apart is the time and energy it invests into each hire. While it may be safe to assume that some people at organizations which employ by thousands may be treated as just another resource, startups give special weight to how the candidate may add to the existing culture of the team.

"The interviews at startups are usually longer," says Program Manager - Growth & Analytics at Cleartax, Ankit Chaudhary. "More importantly, they may not even have any particular skill set in mind, but are aggressively scouting for smart and motivated people," he adds.

These may be followed up with real-time experience with potential candidates being encouraged to come and work at the startup for a few days to double-check if the arrangement would be a good fit for both them and the company.

"A startup needs more commitment since you join with the knowledge that it may or may not scale, which ultimately means that there might be a lot of ambiguity in your role. This is why a personality fit is more important for a startup than a skill fit," says Chaudhary. Anisha Malik, who joined multi-bank payment app Chillr in July 2015, feels it is this ambiguity that brings in a lot of excitement to the usual drudgery of office work.

"One of the best things about working at a small organization is the uncertainty of not knowing what you will be doing every day," she says. Adds Mayuri Mohidekar, who has been working as a Process Engineer at Ather Energy since October 2016: "Since the job description only scratches the surface, it throws open a lot of opportunities. From being a cog in the machine to being able to spin the whole structure independently is worth it all," she adds.

CTRL+N

While the pay offs of giving up personal space and cushy benefits for a richer professional experience may be incrementally higher, battle-scarred veterans, as well as ruby-cheeked newbies, cannot overstate the importance of choosing which startup to join.

"It is your responsibility to assess the risk that comes with joining a small company," says Pinto. "The best way to go about this is to research a company well and learn about the company's performance. The leadership team is equally important as it is made up of people who are going to steer you through ups and downs, which will inevitably find its way in the startup narrative. It is also prudent to know what is being said about the company and its investors in the press," he adds.

But that does not mean joining a startup - even one that ultimately fails - will not be worthwhile.

Says Vineeta Singh, who handles all ATL activities for brand communication for online automobile transactional marketplace Droom: "Startups offer a unique opportunity to learn the ropes of building an organization from scratch, thereby providing a platform to achieve ambitious professional goals," she adds.

Sky down, ground up

Ajay Shrivastava, former Head of Technology at Oyo Rooms has had an interesting journey in this space. "I have worked my way down from joining some of the biggest companies in the world to working with companies of lower scale, but great potential."

Before joining Oyo in February 2015, Shrivastava was leading engineering at Slideshare, which was acquired by LinkedIn. "Before this, I had also worked with Intel, Adobe, Microsoft as well as Expedia," he adds. Having left Oyo in January this year, he is currently leading technology at another startup, Knowlarity.

Shrivastava draws an interesting analogy when describing life at a startup: "Working at a startup is like white water rafting," he says. "Seen from a distance, the tumbling and tossing may suggest that the people inside are in danger, but in reality, they are enjoying the ride," he adds.

But according to Pinto, too many people make the rookie mistake of joining a startup merely to make their resumes look attractive, "I've come across people who have left these organisations after just a few months of joining. Their focus is on how the startup will help them instead of how they can contribute to the company. At the end of the day, neither will they have learned anything substantial nor will the company benefit from having people who are not enthused about its vision," he adds.

"Startups are not for everyone and those who are not driven enough will more often than not be swiftly offloaded," chimes in Malik, "It is not for people looking for a well laid out career graph, but those that truly believe in the vision of the founder and genuinely believe they can find a solution to the problem," she adds.